re: this statement - "That puts them in the public domain, free to use."

I don't believe that to be the case necessarily, because if the lyrics in question were in any way derivative, there possibly could be a claim against it. Again, all of this is speculation at this point, but if (for example) you said "I want something similar to 'Help Me Make It Through The Night'", there's an argument to be made that Kristofferson's song was the "source material".

It's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Also, and someone correct me on this if I'm wrong, I believe when you copyright a song that includes lyrics, there isn't a distinction between the words and music unless you file copyrights on both. In other words, if the music infringes on another work, the entire song (including lyrics) is liable.

Last edited by Roger Brown; 01/28/24 11:46 AM.